Two Memoirs and a Novel by Asian American Authors: AAPI Heritage Month

 AAPI Heritage: Memoirs/Novel by Asian American Writers

All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung

Genre: adoption, biography memoir, Asian 
American

Published October 7, 2018; Catapult


My comments: All You Can Ever Know is an emotional and revealing memoir about one Korean adoptee's experiences as an adult connecting with her Korean birth parents who have also come to live in America. Nicole Chung knew that she was adopted as a severely premature baby whose prognosis did not look good for a healthy development. She later finds out the exact reasons her birth parents gave her up, and discovers she has two biological sisters. Even though her life with her American adoptive parents in Oregon was happy and healthy, none of these new revelations are easy for her to deal with, and at a time when she was starting her own family.

Nicole Chung delves into her own psyche and reveals to us her emotions, her fears and hopes growing up, and how she copes with the realities of her adoption and the convoluted procedures she had to go through to finally connect with her birth family. A must read for those interested in international adoptions and adoptees from Korea.

The book has won numerous awards. 

The author has a follow up memoir focusing on the middle-class American couple who were her adoptive parents and who raised her in a small town in Oregon, USA. The book, A Living Memory was published on April 4, 2023 by Ecco. In it, she also laments the inadequate and unequal access to health care that resulted in the early death of her American father, and the death of her American mother soon after from cancer.

Publisher's summary: a searing memoir of family, class and grief—a daughter’s search to understand the lives her adoptive parents led, the life she forged as an adult, and the lives she’s lost. In this country, unless you attain extraordinary wealth, you will likely be unable to help your loved ones in all the ways you’d hoped. You will learn to live with the specific, hollow guilt of those who leave hardship behind, yet are unable to bring anyone else with them.

Stay True: A Memoir by Hua Hsu
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publication: September 27, 2022; Doubleday

Hua Hsu, Bard College Professor of Literature, won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for memoir, Stay True

My review:

  

In this memoir, the author remembers and honors a college friend, Ken, who died in a mugging and senseless kidnapping while in his third year at UCLA. Hua thinks of the What Ifs that could have saved Ken from that death - what if they had gone swing dancing as Ken had wanted that night, what if he had gone back to Ken's party in the early morning so Ken would not have been alone during that mugging.

There are many reasons Hua and Ken became friends even though they had such different personalities. Both were Asian Americans, but one was Taiwanese-American and a new immigrant, the other a Japanese-American with deep roots. already established in the U.S. Their love of different kinds of music and movies, and their interest in analyzing everything for fun and intellectual sharing are only some of the things they did as college friends.

Deeply moving in parts, Stay True, the memoir, ultimately delves into the minds and hearts of young university students as they search for meaning and identity.

Yellowface

by 

R.F. Kuang, May 16, 2023, William Morrow, NetGalley

Genre: satire, literary fiction

I realized by a third of the way into the book that the title, Yellowface, refers to the old practice of using ethnic white actors to portray East Asian characters in film and on stage. 

The title was fitting for this novel, I thought, as the main character and book narrator, June Hayward, not only stole the unpublished manuscript of her Yale college friend - acclaimed Chinese American author, Athena Liu - but also tried to claim to be Chinese by changing her name from June Hayward to Juniper Song. Her book photograph also made her seem to be Asian. 

Athena's book detailed the World War II Chinese Corps of workers who went to Europe to help the Allies by doing the drudge work of war. June had to justify  knowledge of that subject matter and appear to be an expert also on the Chinese and Chinese history.

This was a complex novel as it was told from only June's point of view. I didn't know whether to hate or to pity her for her devious strategies to gain fame and fortune from the stolen manuscript and to maintain her false identity as a Chinese writer. 

I saw the book had two purposes, however, to show the history of Yellowfacing and racism, and also to reveal the pitfalls of the publishing industry for writers. June felt the publishing world's need for diversity, which led them to focus on promoting promising authors like Athena Liu, giving extra publicity and help to get a book on its way.

I thought this novel was a brilliant addition to literary fiction and Asian American literature.

What are you reading this week? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday

AAPI Heritage Month: Memoir, Two Novels Reviewed

For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, I'm posting reviews of memoirs and novels I've read and reviewed. Here are a few.

 

Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City by Jane Wong

Published: May 16, 2023; Tin House Books

Genre: memoir 

I liked the poetic prose that Jane Wong uses for much of this memoir. She has a poet's acute and perceptive reaction to life experiences.

I think of the book as a very personal account of her agonies in growing up among those who didn't understand or accept her - in school, university, in Atlantic City, where her parents ran a restaurant until her father deserted the family. Of having to field stereotyping, microaggressions, outright hostility, and more.

Her mother is the force that bolsters her as she goes through one heartbreak after another in her life and even in her failed relationships with boyfriends. The author does not dwell as much on her rise as a poet and on her academic career as an associate professor of creative writing. But I recall betrayals on her road to that position as well.

In this very honest memoir, the heartache comes through, as does her remarkably resilient mother who sees Jane through all her stages of despair and grief.

I was heartened to see that the author is a successful writer and teacher because of or in spite of all she went through.

About: Jane Wong is the author of How to Not Be Afraid of Everything from Alice James Books (2021) and Overpour from Action Books (2016). Her debut memoir, Meet Me Tonight in Atlantic City, is being published May 16, 2023. She holds an M.F.A. in Poetry from the University of Iowa and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Washington and is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Western Washington University.  

A Quitter's Paradise by Elysha Chang

Publication: June 6, 2023; SJP Lit

Genre: contemporary, literary fiction

Setting: New York City and Taipei, Taiwan

I enjoyed the two different stories of two generations in this novel and how they impact one another - the story of Rita and Jing from Taipei, who emigrate to the U.S; and the stories of their daughters, Narisa and Eleanor, who grow up in New York.

Eleanor quits her PhD program in neuroscience; Narisa disappears for good while a teen, after one too many fights with her disapproving parents. Only Eleanor and her mother Rita are left after her father Jing leaves the U.S. and forms a new family in Taipei.

I am left with amazement and dismay at the family dynamics, especially that created by the parents. I wondered how Eleanor would cope with that history of people leaving and with her mother Rita, who is left alone with the girls in the U.S. when Jing leaves.

The novel tells two stories - the history of the parents and their extended family in NY, and that of the girls raised in the U.S. I found both stories fascinating.

About: Elysha Chang lives in Brooklyn, and has taught creative writing at Blue Stoop Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, and Villanova University. A graduate of Columbia's MFA Program, she has published in Center for Fiction Magazine, Fence, GQ, The Rumpus, and others. This is her first novel. 

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

Publication: September 5, 2023; Hogarth

Genre: mystery, thriller, literary fiction

Setting: Virginia, USA

A most unusual novel about a missing father of an autistic, verbally challenged 14-year-old, Eugene, who cannot explain in words or actions what happened to his father on that fateful day at the park when Alan disappeared.

I was interested in the description of Eugene's inability to speak coupled with his lack of fine motor skills to use sign language. I enjoyed the mystery - a disappearance that may have been an accident or a murder - and a story that explains that a non-speaking individual that can't control their own movements could still understand speech and even be able to read.

Eugene's older siblings, the twins John and Mia, are intriguing characters, intellectually gifted; the contrast between them and Eugene stands out, especially as the twins try to understand how their dad, Adam, was testing and training Eugene in ways to communicate.

Using technical theories and examples re communication and speech therapies made made the novel more interesting. It was not a problem for me to have a mystery, complex family dynamics, and a novel about a severe disability be all rolled into one in the same book.

I did however, find it unusual and unrealistic for the family to emphasize only verbal communication from Eugene and not the use of simple hand signs for even a Yes or No answer, especially regarding his father's disappearance in the park. Perhaps the topic was too stressful for him to respond in that way. 

A thought provoking book re autistic and non verbal persons, and a suspenseful mystery plot. 

About: Angie Kim moved from South Korea as a preteen. She studied at Stanford University and attended Harvard Law School, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. Her debut novel, Miracle Creek, won several awards and was named one of the best books of the year. Angie has written for numerous literary journals. Happiness Falls is her second novel.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for these ebooks

What are you reading this week?

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday

May Is AAPI Heritage Month

 Google Doodle of May 5, 2023

Celebrating Corky Lee (click on this title for the full article and photos)

In celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, today’s Doodle (May 5, 2023) honors Chinese American photographer, journalist, and activist Corky Lee, who is widely known for his role in documenting the Asian Pacific American experience in the U.S. (Google)

Sunday Salon: Some Lighter Reads TBR

 Book Galleys

These books aren't published as yet; they are galleys made available for readers to submit their comments. Something like the publishers asking for beta readers, but not quite. The final copies of the books may differ a little or a lot from these galleys, but I don't mind reading the unpublished, maybe closer to original versions by the authors

Murder and Mamon: A Tia Rosie's Kitchen Mystery

Publication: September 19, 2023; Berkley 

Publisher: Lila Macapagal's godmothers April, Mae, and June—AKA the Calendar Crew—are celebrating their business venture, a new laundromat. However, a joyous occasion turns into a tragedy when they discover the building vandalized—and the body of Ninang April’s niece, recently arrived from the Philippines, next to a chilling message painted on the floor. 

 

The Comeback

Publication: May 9, 2023; Sourcebooks Casablanca

Publisher: Who is Ariadne Hui?

• Laser-focused lawyer diligently climbing the corporate ladder
• The “perfect” daughter living out her father’s dream
• Shocking love interest of South Korea’s hottest star

Kindergarten at 60: A Memoir of Teaching in Thailand

Publication: June 20, 2023: Apprentice House

Publisher: Teaching kindergarten in Thailand. Dian Seidel, at age sixty and craving adventure, convinced her husband to try working abroad. Rambunctious children, sweltering heat, and Covid-19 turned out to be the challenge she needed. Struggling to understand Thai culture, their school, and their marriage, could she learn Thailand's essential lesson: mai pen rai, don't worry, keep cool?

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for access to these galleys

What are you reading this week?

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday

I Can't Save You: A Memoir by Anthony Chin-Quee

 Memoir

I Can't Save You: A Memoir by Anthony Chin-Quee

Genre: memoir, medical, nonfiction

Publication: April 4, 2023; Riverhead Books

My comments:

I thought that Anthony Chin-Quee, a Black surgeon, wrote this revealing and honest memoir with distinct audiences in mind. The medical community, for one, starting with those at the very top who make and keep the policies that affect the wellbeing of the others - the doctors, medical students, would-be medical students, hospital staff, and the patients themselves. 

Then there are the very personal parts in the memoir that tackle his relationships with others, whether while training and working as a surgeon, in his personal life or in the dysfunctional, multi-racial West Indian family in which he grew up.

I view the book as a wake up call to the medical community in how they train and treat their staff and what they expect that may be just too much - the long hours working without sleep that could endanger both patient and doctor, for instance. The writing is intense as the author describes in a brutally honest way what he had to face with his patients, with other doctors and staff members, in the operating room, and in the hospital while working dangerously long shifts. Granted, some of his descriptions have some humor, in a kind of way. 

And the other wake up call is to the society at large, which continues, based on his experiences, to seriously undermine and underestimate  people of color, and their abilities and potential. 

This book is a must read also, as I see it, for would be doctors, or for those already in the middle of their profession. It's an eye opener for newbies that is frank and honest, even in its brutal, no holds barred descriptions. 

At the end of the book, I was happy for the author that he found his true path, benefiting from his grueling and challenging training to do what he truly loves - writing and using his way with words, leaving behind a debilitating profession, a toxic family member, and forming his own perfect family.

I finished the book with more appreciation for my own doctors and specialists, realizing what they must have gone through, the gauntlets they have to run, to reach and stay where they are. 

About the Author

Anthony Chin-Quee, M.D., is a board-certified otolaryngologist with degrees from Harvard University and Emory University School of Medicine. An award-winning storyteller with The Moth, he has been on the writing staff of FOX’s The Resident and a medical adviser for ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday

Book Reviews: Afterparties, and The Rachel Incident

 Book Reviews

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue

Publication: June 22, 2023; Knopf

Genre: women's fiction, contemporary drama, romance, LBGTQ
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Rachel Incident, a novel about early twenty-somethings in Cork, Ireland gave me a look at the Irish Republic, its people, and its history regarding abortion rights and its fight for women's reproductive rights.

I also loved the story the novel tells of young Rachel and her love for two men, both named James, who play an important part in her life.

The feelings that Rachel has for both Jameses leads her into rocky relationships with her college lit teacher and his wife. All these people interact to make for a compelling story of love in many different manifestations.

Funny, heart warming, amazing characters lead us on a merry dance in this novel of manners, friendships, and some tragedy. The comedy and the drama and even damaging hypocrisy also makes this a thoughtfully unusual book.

 

Afterparties: Stories by Anthony Veasna So

Published August 3, 2021; Ecco

Genre: short stories, immigrant fiction, Cambodian fiction
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

These short stories describe the lives of young Cambodian Americans at home, school, work - their checquered lives, many on the lower income level, their families surviving as relatively recent immigrants and refugees from the Cambodian Civil War and the Khmer Rouge in the mid 1970s, a war called the Cambodian Genocide.

This war and their family history are still alive among these families, as they try to find their way in a new country, sometimes worried about the past finding its way into their present and future. The stories are set in a community in California.

Many of them are heart breaking as the children carry the scars of the past and continue to feel the effects of the sufferings of their parents and families during what they refer to as the Genocide in Cambodia. Adapting to a new country is an added complication for the families and their children growing up American.

I found the stories revealing and necessary for us to understand what some immigrant families face and carry with them in their new country and new home.

What are you reading this week?

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday

Sunday Salon: Holding Pattern by Jenny Xie; Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa

 

Holding Pattern: A Novel by Jenny Xie

Publication: June 20, 2023, Riverhead Books
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a novel about a Chinese immigrant family -  a mother-daughter and their relationship in the U.S. Rather than an immigrant child/adult having to cope with a demanding, self-sacrificing traditional parent, this is about a mother/parent who has broken the norm or stereotype and found a new way of independent living.

Kathleen disappointed her divorced mom Marissa after dropping out of her academic program in psychology and returning home to Oakland, Ca. But Kathleen finds a new mother on her return: Marissa has changed her outlook and lifestyle, becoming trendy and modern and engaged to a tech entrepreneur, Brian Lin.

The novel has two themes : Kathleen trying to find her own way with her interest in psychology and touch therapy, cuddle clinics, and her mother having a renewed interest in reviving her life. This novel surprised me as it deviates from the traditional daughter-mom pattern of Asian parent-child relationships.

I liked the new Marissa, the mom, who is still concerned about her undecided daughter and tries to help her back to a constructive future, but who is determined to live a satisfying life of her own.

 Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa,

Eric Ozawa (Translator)

Publication: July 4, 2023; Harper Perennial

Rating: 5/5 stars

A familiar trope is used at the beginning of this novel - a young woman's heart is broken in a failed relationship; she leaves her job and returns home to her family. 

The trope ends there as the story that unfolds is heart warming and positive and unique. There are new beginnings for the broken hearted Takako and new beginnings for her Uncle Satoru who takes her in, gives her a job and an upstairs apartment at his family bookstore.

I like that Takako becomes part of her uncle's life in more than one way, helping him with his old bookstore on a street filled with other bookshops. She interacts with Satoru's estranged wife who suddenly returns after five years' absence and helps the wife to heal from whatever has been ailing her psychologically. 

It's lovely that Takako herself finds friendship and affection, as well as family, in the small town, and even a new romantic interest. Her uncle's advice to her: Don't be afraid of someone "warming your heart" as long as you live is especially poignant.

What are you reading this week?

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday